Dudu Phukwana - 1969 - Dudu Phukwana and the 'Spears'

Dudu Phukwana

1969

Dudu Phukwana and the 'Spears'

01. Pezulu (Way Up)

02. Thulula (Fill It Up)

03. Kuthwasi Hlobo (Spring)

04. Half Moon

05. Yini Njalo (Stick Around)

06. Kwa Thula (Thula's Place)

07. Joe's Jika (Joe's Groove)

08. Nobomvu (Red Head)

09. Qonqoza (Knock)

10. Phola (Cool It!)

11. Pezulu (Extended Take)

12. Pezulu (Alternate Take)

13. Studio Interlude

14. Half Moon

15. Zulu Liyaduduma

16. Sibuyile (Take One)

17. Sibuyile (Take Two)

18. Church Mouse

19. Untitled (Andromeda)

Alto Saxophone – Dudu Pukwana

Bass – Harry Miller 

Drums – Louis Moholo

Guitar – Richard Thompson 

Guitar – Simon Nicol 

Organ – Bob Stuckey

Trumpet – Mongezi Feza 

Vocals – Joe Mogotsi 

Pressure Cooker South African Township Jazz and Mbaqanga. Dudu Pukwana’s 1968 debut album, recorded in London, released only in South Africa. A second album of mostly unreleased 1969 recordings featuring Richard Thompson, Simon Nicol, Joe Mogotsi, Chris McGregor, Mongezi Feza, Louis Moholo, members of Osibisa, and others. Originally produced by Joe Boyd. Re-mastered audio, double gatefold album, heavyweight 180g vinyl. Unseen photographs by Val Wilmer. New liner notes by Richard Haslop join the historical dots.

Dudu Pukwana and the Spears recorded in London, but were only ever released in South Africa. The story behind this extraordinary music and the famous names involved are documented in this extended edition of Dudu Pukwana’s debut album.

In 1964 the Blue Notes left South Africa to play at the Antibes Jazz Festival in France, and more or less stayed away forever after. In January 1969 alto saxophonist Dudu Pukwana went home briefly along with producer Joe Boyd who persuaded Johannesburg record company Trutone to license the recordings for release in South Africa.

PERSONNEL on tracks 1-10

Confirmed: Dudu Pukwana (alto sax), Bob Stuckey (organ and bass pedals), Louis Moholo (drums). Likely: Phil Lee (guitar), Chris McGregor (piano), Teddy Osei (tenor sax), Mongezi Feza (trumpet), Harry Miller (bass). Possible: Jonas Gwangwa (trombone), Dudu Pukwana (tenor sax and piano), Remi Kabaka (drums or percussion), Jimmy Scott (percussion), Tunji Oyelana (drums or percussion).

PERSONNEL on tracks 11-19

Confirmed: Dudu Pukwana (alto sax), Richard Thompson (guitar), Simon Nicol (guitar), Harry Miller (bass), Louis Moholo (drums), Mongezi Feza (trumpet), Joe Mogotsi (vocals), Bob Stuckey (organ and bass pedals). Likely: Mamsie (Mthombeni) Gwangwa (vocals), Chris McGregor (piano), Phil Lee (guitar), Teddy Osei (tenor sax). Possible: Dudu Pukwana (tenor sax), Jonas Gwangwa (trombone), Remi Kabaka (drums or percussion), Jimmy Scott (percussion), Tunji Oyelana (drums or percussion)

Amazing work from South African jazz legend Dudu Pukwana – a rare album from 1969, plus a never-issued set of tracks done for Atlantic Records at the same time! The core album, titled Dudu Pukwana & The Spears, features Dudu on alto, in the company of a lot of familiar players from his roots – Chris McGregor on piano, Mongezi Feza on trumpet, Louis Moholo on drums, Harry Miller on bass, and Jonas Gwangwa on trombone – plus great organ from Bob Stucky, who'd recorded with Pukwana a bit on the London scene of the 60s – and wholes presence really brings in a nice soul jazz vibe! The style is much straighter than the more avant 70s material of all players involved – and definitely has some of that upbeat South African sense of rhythm going on – nicely rollicking, and starting somewhere in the territory of a Hugh Masekela record, then moving into more of a Prestige 60s vibe.

In 1964 the Blue Notes, to this day one of South Africa’s most iconic musical ensembles, left their homeland to play at the Antibes Jazz Festival in France, and more or less stayed away forever after. Opportunities for this mixed-race aggregation to perform at home were severely limited and only Nikele Moyake and, decades later, Louis Moholo, returned on any kind of long-term basis. In January 1969 alto saxophonist Dudu Pukwana went home briefly, and herein lies the story of this release. Parts of the story remain lost to time, failing memories and a lack of comprehensive recordkeeping.

Here, half a century later, is what we know, or can reasonably assume. Following a short spell at Ronnie Scott’s club in London, and having spent time in Switzerland, the musicians returned to London in 1965 without Moyake. Regular decently remunerative work was hard to find. Not only were Musicians’ Union rules a significant barrier; the fact that the music they played fell well outside the comfortable mainstream also contributed. One of the few places where these Blue Notes could play, even if they made considerably less than a reasonable living out of it, was at Ronnie Scott’s Old Place. There they shared the meagre contributions made by what were described by one writer as “depressingly poor” attendances. Yet those who were there still talk of the way they helped to galvanise a fairly moribund British jazz scene. There was critical acclaim and recognition from some peers, but no money to speak of. It was at The Old Place that Joe Boyd first encountered them. Boyd was a young American record producer living in London. He had worked as a production manager on the Newport Jazz and Folk Festivals in the USA and had first become interested in South African music when he saw penny whistle legend Spokes Mashiyane play at the 1965 folk festival. That was where Bob Dylan had, initially controversially, first played electric rock music in front of an audience. Boyd, who had produced Pink Floyd’s first single and the debut album by the Incredible String Band, signed the South African musicians to his Witchseason production company, whose roster included Fairport Convention, John and Beverley Martyn, and Nick Drake, among the most important artists in the emerging British folk-rock movement.

Boyd arranged a recording deal for the Blue Notes, reconstituted as the Chris McGregor Group with Ronnie Beer on tenor in the place of Moyake, and produced Very Urgent. Much more a free jazz than an overtly South African record, it was released in May 1968. McGregor spoke of how much the South African jazz players in the UK, homesick and looking for a way to feel rooted, missed mbaqanga music. In fact, he, Beer and Pukwana had played on a 1967 album by fellow exile, saxophonist Gwigwi Mrwebi. Initially entitled Kwela (by Gwigwi’s Band) but reissued much later as the more correctly named Mbaqanga Songs, it had featured several short Pukwana compositions influenced by township swing. A month or so after the release of Very Urgent, Pukwana, who also played regularly in groups led by British organist Bob Stuckey, went into London’s Sound Techniques studio. There he recorded a number of tracks with Boyd producing and the renowned John Wood engineering. When they were done Boyd realised that the unequivocally South African results, if slightly more modern than Mrwebi’s album, were not likely to make much of a commercial impact in the UK. However, he thought he might be able to interest a South African company in licensing the music. That way Witchseason might at least recoup its outlay. So, in January 1969, he and Pukwana flew to South Africa. Pukwana used the opportunity to visit his father in Port Elizabeth, where he played at a concert that also featured Winston Mankunku Ngozi. Boyd, in the meantime, persuaded Johannesburg record company Trutone to license the recordings, comprising ten tracks, for possible South African release. Boyd recalls that, on the subject of exiled South African musicians, Trutone’s man expressed the view that Miriam Makeba would be back soon enough, and with her tail between her legs.

While he was in Johannesburg Boyd bought a copy of a 1968 compilation entitled Good Luck Motella on the Motella label (LMO 107), a record that reflected the current direction of black South African popular music. It consisted largely of songs in the vocal mbaqanga style known as mgqashiyo. Several of the songs featured Mahlathini and members of the Mahotella Queens and the Makgona Tsohle Band, but under a variety of names. Listening to it, Boyd thought there might be a place in the UK market for a Dudu Pukwana album that combined some tracks from the recordings he had just licensed to Trutone with others in the more contemporary style displayed on Good Luck Motella. He also thought that it might be an idea to incorporate musicians from other musical areas into the project. So he lent the album to Richard Thompson, now widely regarded as among the finest guitarists in the rock and folk music canons, but then just a hugely talented young player in a new group called Fairport Convention. Boyd asked him if he could learn to play like the guitarist on the compilation. That guitarist was the great Marks Mankwane. Thompson has said that this made him feel, for a few months, like the coolest guitar player in London.

Meanwhile, Trutone issued the recordings they had licensed on their Quality imprint as both an LP (LTJ-S 232) and an 8-track tape under the misspelled title of Dudu Phukwana and the “Spears”, complete with inverted commas. Pukwana led a band in the UK called Spear, but perhaps the South African recording industry wasn’t yet ready for groups without a plural name preceded by the definite article. Copies of the album have been extraordinarily hard to find for many years and have become something of a Holy Grail to collectors of Blue Notes-related material. Though there were ten tracks on the record, two of them, identified as ‘Half Moon’ and ‘Kwa Thula’, were the same tune. They are the same track, just with different stereo mixes. Indeed, there was a comment written on the tape box that Boyd had left in Johannesburg saying that ‘Kwa Thula’ was “to be replaced”. Trutone clearly overlooked it. The correct name of the tune is almost certainly ‘Half Moon’ rather than ‘Kwa Thula’. Half Moon Crescent was the address at which Pukwana would rehearse with Bob Stuckey, who plays on this album. Furthermore, Pukwana travelled to New York during 1969 and played alto on an album entitled Who (Ngubani)?, led by South African trombonist Jonas Gwangwa. There is one Dudu Pukwana composition on that LP, a song entitled ‘Kwatula’, and it has an entirely different tune to ‘Half Moon’/‘Kwa Thula’. Confusingly, the tune of the Gwangwa ‘Kwatula’ is that of ‘Pezulu’, the opening track on Dudu Phukwana and the “Spears”,but with vocals. ‘Pezulu’ itself, an especially appealing piece with a maddeningly catchy riff, was released by Trutone as a single on the Stokvel imprint (45ST 115), with ‘Kuthwazi Hlobo’ on the B side.

The participants in the “Spears” recordings remain something of a mystery, although we can make a few educated guesses. There appear to be two separate ensembles, one featuring piano and a horn section and the other featuring organ and solo alto. Bob Stuckey has identified himself as the organ player, using pedals for the bass. That being the case the guitarist on the organ tracks is likely to have been Phil Lee, who played with Pukwana in Stuckey’s quartet. The identities of the rest of this outfit are harder to be sure of. In its brief review of the record South Africa’s Drum magazine stated that the Spears were a Nigerian group. Boyd recalls that Ghanaian Teddy Osei and perhaps others from the West African-Caribbean band Osibisa took part in the sessions. Nigerian musicians who were involved with Pukwana at about this time included Jimmy Scott and Tunji Oyelana. There is certainly a fair amount of West 

African-styled percussion on the album. It has also been plausibly suggested that, in addition to alto, Pukwana may have doubled on tenor and perhaps played the piano parts as well. It must be said, though, that the pianist sounds very much like McGregor. In addition, there appears to be a trombonist. Could that have been Jonas Gwangwa?

Since the 2005 publication of Boyd’s book, White Bicycles: Making Music In The 1960s, in which he mentioned that Richard Thompson and fellow Fairport Convention guitarist Simon Nicol had played on Dudu Pukwana sessions, it appears to have been assumed that theirs are the guitars that appear on Dudu Phukwana and the “Spears”. As is evident from the fact that Boyd only lent Good Luck Motella to Thompson after he and Dudu had returned from Johannesburg, that is not so. Boyd has confirmed this. But the CD that was released to accompany Boyd’s book contains a Dudu Pukwana track, reflected as previously unreleased, entitled ‘Church Mouse’, on which Thompson and Nicol are credited as guitarists with Mongezi Feza as trumpeter and a rhythm section of Harry Miller, another South African, and Louis Moholo. This brings us to the next part of the tale.

A few years ago an acetate surfaced in an American collection. It is by Dudu Pukwana and the Spears and emanates from the Atlantic Recording Studios in New York. Quite why Atlantic would have made such an acetate, and at whose instance, is by no means clear. Perhaps Dudu took some of the Boyd tracks with him when he went to play with Jonas Gwangwa in an effort to create American interest but, if that is so, one can’t help wondering why he chose these particular tracks. The tracks, which almost certainly come from the various London sessions, contain music both from before and after the trip to South Africa. Alongside the Quality version of ‘Half Moon’, there are two different takes of ‘Pezulu’, one of which appears to be the one used on the Quality LP, but extended by about thirty seconds, and two different takes of a cover version of the mbaqanga song ‘Sibuyile’. Perhaps decisively in establishing the recordings’ provenance, the version of ‘Sibuyile’ that appears to be the template for the acetate rendition is on that Good Luck Motella album that Boyd lent to Thompson. The same applies to ‘iZulu Liyaduduma’. On Good Luck Motella, both were credited to Izintombi Zo Mgqashiyo, really Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens under a different name. Since the songs come from the album Boyd lent Thompson, it seems that these must be from the 1969 sessions written about in White Bicycles. Another addition is Joe Mogotsi of the Manhattan Brothers trying, manfully, to groan like the much more naturally rough-sounding Mahlathini. Identifying the female chorus has proved more difficult as Boyd didn’t recall having female singers on the session. One of them sounds like Mamsie Gwangwa, wife of Jonas, who also features on Who (Ngubani)?. Boyd has written of the fine job Richard Thompson did of learning the mbaqanga guitar parts and there is no doubt that, while not always a dead ringer for the matchless Mankwane, his playing is an excellent facsimile. These recordings took place in the smaller, number 2 studio at Olympic in Barnes, London. Simon Nicol, eighteen at the time, remembers that the studio was packed and hugely different and exciting. “I felt very cosmopolitan,” he says, “and quite grown up with all the strong accents, the energy, the rum and the dope hanging in the air.” Chris McGregor himself would appear to be the pianist on these acetate tracks. The acetate features ‘Church Mouse’, a McGregor composition that hints at his upbringing as the son of a church minister, and appears on the trio album, Our Prayer, that McGregor recorded with Boyd in 1969, but was only released in 2008. Other than ‘Church Mouse’, the acetate labels do not identify any of its contents by title. Nevertheless, another McGregor composition, or at least a precursor to its later publication, is included as an untitled mbaqanga instrumental. It strongly echoes the pianist’s ‘Andromeda’, which would make its formal recorded appearance the following year on the debut album by McGregor’s mighty multinational but heavily South African flavoured big band, the Brotherhood Of Breath, in which the frequently brilliant Dudu would play a starring role.

Boyd, whose Witchseason company was financially distressed, was to take up a job with Warner Brothers in the US at the beginning of 1971, so 1970 was a busy year as he finished albums by Nico, John and Beverley Martyn (on one of which Pukwana played), Nick Drake (with Chris McGregor memorably on piano), the Incredible String Band, Mike Heron of that band (featuring Dudu’s alto), Fairport Convention, Fotheringay, Vashti Bunyan and that first album by Chris McGregor’s Brotherhood Of Breath. He wanted to finish the Pukwana album as well before he left the UK as he believed he had enough raw material in the can, if only he could get some decent solos out of Dudu. So he booked more time at Sound Techniques and called in the altoist to record those solos. But Pukwana was drinking heavily at the time and, according to Boyd, was not able to produce anything worth keeping. Boyd has said that one of the biggest regrets of his long and storied career is still the fact that he was unable to finish the Dudu Pukwana album.  As the first solo recording by one of South Africa’s greatest musicians this reissue has obvious historical significance. It contains enough of Pukwana’s trademark sound, still emotionally searing half a century later, to make it a thoroughly rewarding musical event as well.